Seth Andrew, founder of the Democracy Prep charter schools and a nationally recognized champion of school reform, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Thursday for illegally taking more than $200,000 from the network he helped create.

Appearing before Judge John P. Cronan at the federal courthouse in New York City, Andrew鈥檚 defense team requested he begin serving his sentence for wire fraud no later than Sept. 22 at FCI Otisville, a medium-security prison 82 miles outside New York City. The prosecution did not object.

Hands behind his back, fingers fidgeting, Andrew acknowledged doing 鈥渉arm to Democracy Prep鈥� and said he hoped 鈥渇uture students can learn from my mistakes.鈥� When he finished, his eyes welled with tears and he looked back at family and friends in the courtroom.

Calling the sentencing 鈥減articularly difficult,鈥� Cronan said he weighed Andrew鈥檚 track record of civic achievement against what he called 鈥渁 very conscious decision to violate the law.鈥�

The judge referred specifically to a character reference sent by a former student, one of 57 letters written in support of a lighter sentence. 鈥淎mong other things, you taught her about what it means to be accountable,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 hope you鈥檒l take those words to heart.鈥�

Financial trouble

The case rocked the education world when it was announced last year, and its intricacies revealed a deep leadership conflict at the heart of one of the country鈥檚 most acclaimed charter networks.

Andrew, who founded Democracy Prep in 2005 and served as CEO for much of the next eight years, was arrested last April and charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors alleged that he siphoned over $200,000 from escrow accounts maintained by several Democracy Prep schools, transferring it to new accounts under his control and mingling the stolen monies with those of his Democracy Builders nonprofit group. The scheme allowed him to inflate his apparent wealth and attain a lower mortgage interest rate for a $2.3 million Manhattan apartment, according to a .

Andrew illegally misrepresented his relationship with the network, which had been officially severed in 2017, through the use of an old institutional email address. The criminal complaint included damning security footage of him sitting in the bank from which he withdrew the escrow funds, clad in a branded Democracy Prep hat that he was rarely photographed without.

After initially indicating that he would fight the charges in court, Andrew pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January. In the weeks leading up to his sentencing, a volley of competing documents were filed by his attorneys and federal prosecutors 鈥� each emphasizing their own gloss on the case.

Citing the deliberate and long-running nature of Andrew鈥檚 deception as he first misappropriated and then shuffled the money between banks, the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office for the Southern District of New York asked the court to hand down a sentence 鈥渙n the lower end鈥� of the legal guidelines of 21鈥�27 months. The defense asked for a period of home confinement, followed by three years鈥� probation.

In arguing for a harsher sentence Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finkel noted that during the period he committed his crimes, Andrew was giving interviews extolling Democracy Prep鈥檚 civic values.

鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 following through on the actions he was preaching,鈥� Finkel said.

But in a recent twist, prosecutors modified their characterization of the motive behind Andrew鈥檚 鈥渂razen and shameless act鈥�; while acknowledging that the favorable mortgage terms constituted an additional inducement, accused him of primarily seeking revenge against Democracy Prep for turning down his offer to return as a short-term CEO in spring 2019. 

Painting a picture of an organization in disarray, Andrew said he asked the Democracy Prep board to offer him a contract through that July at a salary of $25,000 per month and a potential $250,000 bonus. But those expectations would increase, he warned, for every day he remained unhired and the network鈥檚 鈥渇inancial, talent, and organizational situation鈥� 鈥� including its handling of individual schools鈥� escrow accounts, which are mandated by the state to cover costs in the event of a school closure 鈥� deteriorated further. Ultimately the pitch was rejected, and Andrew misappropriated $142,000 just a few weeks later. An additional $75,000 was fraudulently withdrawn that October.

Whether or not the true state of Democracy Prep was as dire as he claimed at the time, Andrew鈥檚 brainchild had undergone enormous changes over the previous decade. Established as a single middle school in Harlem and designed to prepare low-income students for both college and democratic participation, Democracy Prep swelled to a network of over 20 campuses across five states and Washington, D.C. The schools administered the citizenship exam as a graduation requirement, taught students to lobby politicians and register voters, and sent them on trips to Europe and Asia. 

The results won national acclaim. Not only did Democracy Prep schools post some of the most impressive standardized test scores in New York, research showed that their alumni were significantly more likely to vote and be registered to vote than their same-age peers. After nearly a decade in leadership, Andrew left in 2013 to take a job in the Obama administration.

But cracks began to show in the coming years. The network鈥檚 nationwide spread was fueled in part by grants from the federal Charter School Program 鈥� investment that came with conditions around the speed and quality of expansion. Some critics, including a former chief financial officer who had recently been terminated, argued that Democracy Prep had become overextended in its commitments to new sites, giving way to acute financial strain. 

A few months before Andrew鈥檚 proposed return, according to documents obtained by 蜜桃影视, then-CEO Katie Duffy emailed school staff warning of 鈥渟ignificant deficits across our network of schools鈥� and forecasting a period of retrenchment. Even before the school year began, she announced that the network would cut ties with its Washington campus, which had floundered academically from the outset.

It was this dysfunction, combined with a 鈥渇rustration with the management of DPPS during a time of uncertainty,鈥� that led to Andrew鈥檚 scheme, in a response to the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office. While his plot was criminal, they conceded, it did not arise from a desire for self-enrichment or vengeance.

In a statement provided to 蜜桃影视, a spokesperson for Andrew argued that the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office had 鈥渂acked off the false narrative of greed鈥� as an explanation for the fraud, instead claiming that he had taken the money as a vindictive measure against his former employer.

鈥淚n a last-minute submission, the government contended that Seth transferred these funds to cause unspecified harm to organizations he founded while admitting that he still cares about this mission deeply to this day,鈥� the statement read. 鈥淗is entire career belies their false assertion.鈥�

A similar argument was sounded in from a noteworthy ally: Eric Grannis, a prominent New York City charter advocate and husband to Success Academy head Eva Moskowitz. Though not a friend of Andrew鈥檚 鈥� in fact, Grannis wrote, the two clashed over at least one contentious charter school issue 鈥� he spoke up out of a belief that the Democracy Prep founder had acted on principle for the benefit of the Democracy Builders group, formerly a sister organization of Democracy Prep.

鈥淎lthough my dealings with Mr. Andrew were limited, he is someone whose nature is readily apparent and he is deeply idealistic and zealous, a real 鈥榯rue believer,鈥欌�� Grannis wrote. 鈥淚 am therefore convinced that his primary goal in taking these funds was to put them to what he believed was good use, not to reduce his interest rate on his mortgage or for any other personal benefit.鈥�

Under Andrew鈥檚 leadership, Democracy Builders had set its eyes on a bold new project in the months before the pandemic: the acquisition and reopening of Marlboro College, a defunct institution in Vermont, as a two-year academic program for disadvantaged students. The deal, in the tiny community where the new school was to have been sited, was ultimately halted over Andrew鈥檚 prosecution and Democracy Builders鈥� own organizational crisis.

A ‘sad chapter is finally closed’

After his guilty plea earlier this year, Andrew returned the $218,005 he misappropriated from the network and paid a forfeiture obligation to the government of $22,537. On Thursday, Judge Cronan added a $5,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release that the sentence would send a message to potential white-collar criminals.

鈥淎ndrew committed this crime to attempt to punish non-profit charter schools because they declined his offer to return as their leader,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淭hankfully, the victim of Andrew鈥檚 crime was resilient, and its important work continues.鈥� 

In an email to her employees, network CEO Natasha Trivers said she was 鈥済rateful this sad chapter is finally closed.鈥�

鈥淪eth鈥檚 actions are a profound betrayal of all that Democracy Prep stands for,鈥� she wrote.

Disclosure: Campbell Brown sits on Success Academy鈥檚 board of directors. Brown co-founded 蜜桃影视 and sits on its board of directors.

The study, circulated as by the National Bureau of Economic Research, represents the latest evidence pointing to some charters as institutions that strengthen civic engagement. A that focused on North Carolina schools found lasting benefits to traditionally underserved students, including more frequent voting and reduced criminality, who attended a charter secondary school rather than a traditional public school.

And both echo the findings of of the civics-focused Democracy Prep charter schools. Graduates of the network, which operates over 20 schools across five states, were 12 percentage points more likely to vote in the 2016 presidential election than similar students, according to that study, and substantially more likely to be registered as voters.聽

Sarah Cohodes, an economist at Columbia University鈥檚 Teachers College and a co-author of the Boston paper, noted that the voting effects she found were about half as large as those generated by Democracy Prep 鈥� six percentage points of increased voting likelihood, from a status quo of 35 percent 鈥� and that she measured no impact on registration. But a network like Democracy Prep, which persistently emphasizes civic participation and demands that students demonstrate mastery over multiple democratic skills, might be expected to lift voter participation, Cohodes added.

鈥淭his [research] is showing that even if you have a school where civics isn鈥檛 the mission, but you are still instilling more general skills 鈥� executive function, conscientiousness 鈥� alongside academic skills, that spills over into voting,鈥� she said.

Cohodes and co-author James Feigenbaum, a professor of economics at Boston University, gathered student records from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, along with lottery reports and voter records. The academic data included a battery of student demographic information, as well as performance metrics on state standardized tests, Advanced Placement course enrollment, SAT-taking, and college enrollment and persistence. Their sample included 12 Boston charters that enrolled students who were at least 18 years old at the time of the 2016 U.S. elections.

They then matched those records with Massachusetts voter files drawn from 2012, 2015, and 2018 (as well as files from nearby states New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine, to account for out-of-state moves).聽

Like many other studies of charter school effectiveness, the analysis relies on the lottery mechanism that randomly assigns admissions to Boston鈥檚 heavily oversubscribed charter sector. Lottery 鈥渨inners鈥� (students who are ultimately enrolled in the charters) are broadly similar to lottery 鈥渓osers鈥� in terms of racial and ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and prior academic performance.

After comparing the two sets of data, the authors found that charter attendance increased students鈥� incidence of voting in their first presidential election after turning 18 by about 17 percent. That effect is particularly noteworthy because the study found that charter attendance did not seem to increase voter registration, as one of the biggest procedural barriers preventing people from turning out on Election Day.

But within those results, an even more striking pattern emerged: The average increase in voting is the result of an especially large boost to female charter students 鈥� 12.5 percentage points 鈥� and no corresponding rise among males. That outcome generally mirrors , which have increasingly shown females outvoting males in recent years.聽

To isolate a possible explanation for the gender split, the authors studied the various ways in which Boston charters affected their pupils compared with traditional public schools, including academic aptitude (measured through test scores), civic skills (measured through enrollment in an AP government or U.S. history class), and non-cognitive abilities (measured through school attendance and a student鈥檚 decision to take the SAT). Ultimately, the third category was the only realm in which a similar gender disparity existed, showing significant increases for girls compared with boys.

That detail is reminiscent of research conducted by political scientist John Holbein, who has found that high school students who are more likely to describe themselves as gritty are also more frequent voters. The link between non-cognitive skills like grit and persistence and voting propensity could be due to the obstacles that often stand in the way of filling out a ballot, Cohodes argued.

鈥淵ou have to register, you have to find your polling place, you have to make your plan for getting there and getting off of work,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then you actually have to show up and do it all. That involves persistence and follow-through, and…that鈥檚 where I see those schools coming in.”

It鈥檚 unclear whether charter schools in Boston are aiding the cultivation of such follow-through in female, but not male, students 鈥� or, perhaps, that they are burnishing those qualities in equal measure, but that boys begin school already far behind their female classmates. In either instance, Cohodes concluded, the findings provide more reason to think that the civic聽byproducts of charter schooling could be as consistent as their academic effects, which have largely been shown to be replicable across different settings and charter models.

鈥淚 do think it鈥檚 a different dimension of skill from academics, so it鈥檚 not necessarily the case that the schools that are bringing up test scores the most are also bringing up voting the most. But the things that Boston charters do are also things that KIPP schools do, that STRIVE charters and others do. So it鈥檚 not like it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 totally out of left field.鈥�

Andrew has agreed to pay restitution to Democracy Prep. He could face up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 14.聽

By that time, nearly a year will have passed since the school reform giant was first arrested and charged with fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank. Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney鈥檚 office for the Southern District of New York accused Andrew of misappropriating the money in order to secure a better mortgage rate for a million-dollar Manhattan apartment.

鈥淪eth Andrew, a former White House advisor, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create,鈥� said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement. 鈥淎ndrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.鈥澛�

Andrew first launched Democracy Prep in 2005 at a single middle school in Harlem. The fledgling charter gained interest from families 鈥� and powerful political allies, such as then-U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel 鈥� through its curricular focus on civics instruction and democratic engagement. In a little over decade, his brainchild had expanded to campuses across New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Nevada.聽

As their enrollment grew to over 6,000 students system-wide, the schools earned praise for their academic performance and impressive record of sending graduates to college. Additionally, from the Mathematica research group found that Democracy Prep students were much more likely to vote, and to be registered to vote, than otherwise similar peers.

Andrew left the organization in 2013 for a position in the U.S. Department of Education. But he remained a brand ambassador for Democracy Prep, seldom spotted in public without his yellow cap bearing the network鈥檚 logo.聽

He was photographed in that hat in security footage from one of the banks where he improperly withdrew funds from three Democracy Prep school accounts. By New York state law, every charter school must maintain substantial funds in escrow in the event that they are unexpectedly forced to dissolve.聽

In a statement provided to 蜜桃影视, Andrew鈥檚 attorneys, Tim Doherty and Edward Kim, said that their client had 鈥渨orked tirelessly to expand educational, democratic, and technological opportunity to disenfranchised communities around the world.鈥�

鈥淪eth鈥檚 life has always been motivated by a civic mission, and he deeply regrets his past mistakes. He has, with courage, accepted responsibility for them. With the help and support of his family and loved ones, Seth looks forward to deepening his commitment to service and innovation in the next chapter of his life.鈥�

In an email, a Democracy Prep spokesperson wrote that Andrew 鈥渨ill make full restitution to our institution for all of the money he stole. We are glad that this sad chapter is over and thankful to the authorities for their hard work on this case.鈥�

The bombshell federal indictment of a well-known educator will delay the planned opening of a new experimental college he helped design for low-income, first-generation students. But it won鈥檛 stop it, the project鈥檚 new CEO said recently.

鈥淲e will be opening in fall 2022, for sure,鈥� said Chandell Stone.

In the meantime, she and others at Degrees of Freedom, as it鈥檚 called, are doing what they can to delicately sever ties to both the suspect in the criminal case and the non-profit he created.

The 鈥渟ocial venture incubator鈥� Democracy Builders last year announced it was buying the southern Vermont campus of Marlboro College to create a two-year, hybrid high school and early college program. Organizers last month told supporters that the program would welcome its first students this September.

On April 27, everything changed: The U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office for the Southern District of New York announced that the non-profit鈥檚 founder, Seth Andrew, with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a financial institution. If convicted, he faces up to 70 years in prison.

A founder of the well-known Democracy Prep charter school network and a one-time to Pres. Obama, Andrew, 42, allegedly stole $218,005 from a network account in 2019 in order to secure a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a nearly $2.4 million Manhattan apartment, prosecutors said. He was expected to plead not guilty and declined to comment for this article.

After news of Andrews鈥� indictment spread, Democracy Builders held an emergency meeting to remove him as board chair.

Last week, Stone said efforts to separate the new college from the alleged crime are going even further: When Degrees of Freedom incorporates this month, it will have no formal association with Andrew. She and members of the Democracy Builders board 鈥渁re working amicably towards separating the entities, as to allow for formal incorporation without Seth Andrew.鈥�

The first problem: Degrees of Freedom doesn鈥檛 actually own the Marlboro campus 鈥� Democracy Builders does. That has complicated the college鈥檚 efforts to open as planned, Stone said.

鈥淲e鈥檇 love to be in Marlboro, but the reality is this just happened last week 鈥� and we were in the middle of telling kids, 鈥楥ome to campus.鈥� And I just didn鈥檛 feel comfortable with all of the dust-up.鈥�

The developments mean it鈥檒l be at least another year until more than just a handful of students can take part in what many observers see as a promising experiment.

When he announced the new college in 2020, Andrew told that the venture represented 鈥渁 new model for higher education that doesn鈥檛 exist for most kids.鈥�

To that end, Democracy Builders spent $1.7 million to buy the 500-acre campus of Marlboro, a small liberal arts college that, like many of its kind, faced declining enrollment. In 2019, it merged with Boston鈥檚 Emerson College, sending students and faculty packing.

Degrees of Freedom last fall ran what it called a successful small pilot of its model with 20 students.It plans to offer a low-residency hybrid program that would require students to be on campus for just two weeks per trimester, or six weeks per year. For the rest of the academic year, they鈥檇 be expected to study online, with apprenticeships tied to their majors.

The program鈥檚 website actually lays out two separate programs: a three-trimester 鈥�,鈥� for high schoolers, summer included, priced at $9,000, that provides SAT and ACT prep, college application support, and an option for international travel, among other offerings. It鈥檚 open to high school seniors with 2.5 GPAs, as well as GED holders who aren鈥檛 enrolled in college.

For $18,000, high school graduates and GED holders can enroll in a two-year 鈥溾�� designed to help them 鈥済ain entrance to competitive colleges.鈥�

Stone said the program will also allow alumni to find full-time employment in their area of concentration or access to tech-focused boot camps that many low-income students don鈥檛 typically attend.

鈥淲hat we want to do is figure out: How do we get low-income students, first-generation college students, to gain access to well-paid careers, and do so with zero dollars in student debt?鈥� she said. Because Degrees of Freedom is 鈥渞everse-engineering the program from the Pell Grant,鈥� basing its costs on the federal grant鈥檚 maximum allowance to students, she said, low-income students should expect to graduate debt-free.

Kevin Carey, who directs the Education Policy program at , the left-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank, said that鈥檚 a laudable 鈥� and unusual 鈥� goal for a tech-focused college.

鈥淵ou only do this if you begin from the point of view of, 鈥楬ow do I build a college that鈥檚 good at serving low income students?鈥� No one does that. Everyone鈥檚 approach to technology is, 鈥楬ow do I make money?鈥欌��

Richard Saudek, a Montpelier, Vt., attorney who chairs Marlboro鈥檚 board of trustees, said the board chose Degrees of Freedom because 鈥渢he people involved were quite experienced starting up schools that served underserved populations.鈥�

Marlboro officials, he said, 鈥渇elt that their plans seemed to make sense 鈥� and that it would be a good thing to do, basically, to have them purchase the campus at a low price. And we had a lot of hopes.鈥�

Saudek said the sale of the campus won鈥檛 be affected by Andrew鈥檚 legal troubles. The transaction had no 鈥渃lawback鈥� or reversal provisions. 鈥淭hey had it to do what they could with it,鈥� he said.

Nevertheless, he admitted that trustees 鈥渁re watching this situation unfold and were alarmed when they learned about the indictment.鈥�

New America鈥檚 Carey had a similar response when he read the news: 鈥淧art of my reaction to the whole thing, beyond 鈥榃hat the hell?鈥� was 鈥楾oo bad. This is just going to kill this thing.鈥欌��

He recalled hearing Andrew鈥檚 pitch as the program was taking shape: Rather than forcing students to borrow $20,000 to attend 鈥渟ome shady for-profit college鈥� or take on even more debt to attend a four-year college without graduating, Carey said, he was intrigued by the notion of using hybrid learning to bring costs down so low that a student could cover them entirely with a Pell Grant.

鈥淎t its most basic level, that’s a good idea,鈥� Carey said.

At the moment, the effort is relying largely on funding from the Silicon Valley investor , as well as a group of wealthy donors, to help keep it afloat. In an April 8 email to supporters prior to his indictment, Andrew urged them to 鈥淗elp us identify funders for our work.鈥� The plea linked to a direct donation site for the college. Andrew noted, 鈥淥ur entire cost for tuition-room-and-board costs less than a Pell grant. However, we need philanthropy until we break-even at ~500 students, which we hope to achieve in 2022.鈥�

Stone said recent developments have affected fund-raising, and that a few donors have backed out. 鈥淲e are now working to recover grants for which Seth was the lead point of contact,鈥� she said.

It鈥檚 significant that the idea for Degrees of Freedom emerged from the world of K-12 charter schools, Carey said. Unlike most new online universities, which are typically for-profit, charter schools have historically offered educators ways to create mission-driven, non-profit schools that help low-income students.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no comparable mechanism in higher education for that,鈥� he said.

The irony is that Stone and others now find themselves working to both listen to the needs of these students and separate themselves from Andrew, whose work has long been synonymous with the very charter schools that serve them.

鈥淢y goal is to stay laser-focused on 鈥楬ow do we continue to uplift their voices?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥溾�楬ow do we make sure that their voices don’t get drowned out by a personal matter that doesn’t really have anything to do with them, and with this project?鈥欌��

Seth Andrew, a giant in the world of education reform and former official in the Obama White House, was accused in federal court Tuesday of stealing over $200,000 from Democracy Prep, the nationally prominent network of civics-focused charter schools that he founded.

Andrew faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank, according to for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors claim that the alleged theft was perpetrated in order to inflate a bank balance that allowed Andrew to secure a better mortgage interest rate for the $2.37 million Manhattan apartment he purchased in 2019.

Andrew鈥檚 attorney, Michael Yaeger, told 蜜桃影视 in an email that his client was reviewing and would plead not guilty. He was released on $500,000 bond following an initial appearance Tuesday in a Manhattan courthouse. Andrew did not respond to a request for comment.

Andrew and his collaborators launched the first Democracy Prep middle school in Harlem in 2005 with a curricular focus on civic and democratic education. Powered by federal grants designed to accelerate charter growth, the network swiftly grew to educate roughly 6,500 students across campuses in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas, and Nevada.

But the network also faltered when Andrew left to join then-President Obama鈥檚 Office of Education Technology. After a few years of poor academic performance, its school in Washington, D.C., closed in 2019; the same year, faced with lower-than-expected enrollment across multiple locations, then-CEO Katie Duffy announced that 鈥渟ignificant deficits鈥� would force Democracy Prep to make cutbacks.

In an email to families and staff on Tuesday, Natasha Trivers 鈥� who replaced Duffy in 2019 鈥� wrote that Andrew鈥檚 alleged actions were 鈥渁 profound betrayal of all that we stand for and to you and your children, the scholars and families that we serve.鈥�

It appears that Trivers played a role in informing federal authorities of the crimes; she added in the email that since her ascension to the network鈥檚 leadership, 鈥淒emocracy Prep has instituted a series of financial safeguards that led directly to the discovery of Seth鈥檚 unauthorized withdrawals.鈥� Though the facts of the case are still ambiguous, that aside echoes a claim made on Twitter by her father, noted evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, who wrote that his daughter 鈥渃aught鈥� Andrew. Natasha Trivers did not respond to a request for comment.

The tweet has since been deleted.

Andrew maintained a complicated relationship with the charter organization after stepping down as its leader in 2013; he retained a role as head of Democracy Builders, a sister nonprofit focused on launching new educational projects centered on activism and civics, while at the same time retaining a Democracy Prep email address that law enforcement officials say he used to carry out the alleged fraud.

In a 14-page complaint unsealed Tuesday morning, Andrew is accused of stealing $218,000 in March 2019 from assorted escrow accounts that Democracy Prep maintained under state law in the event that any of its schools were forced to dissolve. Andrew placed a substantial portion of the money in a newly created account at another bank, which itself was loaning him a $1.8 million mortgage to buy a Manhattan home, prosecutors claim; by using the misappropriated funds to keep a substantial balance there, he could have benefitted from a discounted interest rate.

The affidavit includes a photo of a figure alleged to be Andrew 鈥� wearing that is ubiquitously associated both with him and the school鈥� in the offices of the bank where one of the school鈥檚 escrow accounts was closed.

鈥淟ocking into the lowest interest rate when applying for a loan is certainly the objective of every home buyer, but when you don鈥檛 have the necessary funds to put down, and you steal the money from your former employer to make up the difference, saving money in interest is likely to be the least of your concerns,鈥� Assistant FBI Director William F. Sweeney. Jr. said in a statement. 鈥淲e allege today that Andrew did just that, and since the employer he stole from was a charter school organization, the money he took belonged to an institution serving school-aged children.鈥�

Since ending his formal relationship with the network in 2017, Andrew has kept active largely through his work with Democracy Builders. Last year, after previous attempts to buy a college campus, the organization succeeded in purchasing Marlboro College, a financially distressed institution in Vermont that Andrew in a unique higher education offering for first-generation and economically disadvantaged students. In March, even as Degrees of Freedom prepared for its first fall sessions.

Tuesday鈥檚 arrest is a stunning development that will no doubt shape how Democracy Prep and its founder are viewed. One of a generation of high-performing charter schools begun in New York City during the tenure of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Democracy Prep made its name by focusing not only on academic rigor and college readiness, but also on preparing its students as participants in democracy. Students receive years of civics and history instruction and must show mastery of a wide variety of civic skills, including passing the U.S. citizenship test, participating in get-out-the-vote drives, and lobbying politicians.

The results have been lauded by education experts and won the network the support of well-placed friends in both politics and education policy. According to a study by the research group Mathematica, Democracy Prep graduates were 12 percentage points more likely to vote 鈥� and 16 points more likely to be registered 鈥� than their peers in the 2016 presidential election. Democracy Prep schools in New York also saw some of the city鈥檚 best standardized test scores and boasted impressive levels of college enrollment for graduates.

In an interview with 蜜桃影视 in 2019, Andrew said that the mission of the network was more necessary than ever, arguing that democratic engagement 鈥渘eeds to be refreshed every generation.鈥�

鈥淒emocracy Prep is not 鈥楪eneric Prep.鈥� It鈥檚 specifically Democracy Prep for a reason. The reason we have public schools is to educate citizens for democracy. I think every school should have a civic purpose; ours is just more explicit about it than most.鈥�